CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES
C?rtor?t Co? *7*1 Nawiptptr
REA Lights Up Rural America
There has been a lot of controversy
over what is commonly called "REA."
The letters REA stand for Rural Elec
trification Administration. It is an agen
cy of the federal government which
lends money to groups of farmers who
need funds so that they can bring elec
tric lines to their barns and farm homes.
That sounds reasonable enough, so
why the controversy? A lot of the talk
against REA originates with the private
power companies, the companies which
back in the 1930's, when REA pame
into being, said that they couldn't af
ford to take power to the farmer.
On May 11, 1935 President Franklin
Roosevelt signed an order that brought
REA into existence. After months of
work to see how REA could best put
electricity on the farm, "cooperatives"
were found to be the answer. Groups
of farmers in rural areas joined to
gether and ALL agreed to buy power
so that the cost would not be too high
for any one of them.
The money to put up the poles, string
the line and pay engineers could now
be borrowed from the federal govern
ment. Some of the early cooperatives
in this country bought their power from
the government dams; for example, the
Alcorn Cooperative in the TVA area.
And today in the west and midwest co
operatives are buying power from gov
ernment-built dams. Much of the power
used by electrical co-ops throughout the
country is bought also from private
firms, such as Carteret-Craven, which
buys its power from Carolina Power
and Light.
But to return to the 19.30's ? the pri
vate electrical companies said then
they could not afford to take power to
the farmer. Th6y said the farmer did
not have the money to pay for electri
city and they preferred to concentrate
their electrical service in the cities.
Then when REA came along and
PROVED that the farmer wanted elec
tricity, that he could pay a reasonable
pHcfc for it, and he had the money to
buy electric washing machines, Irons
and refrigerators ? which in turn in
creased the amount of power used on
the farm ? the private utilities saw
they had made a blunder. Thus comes
much of the propaganda against REA.
The private electric firms see that they
missed a bonanza, so now they call
REA "socialistic, communistic, govern
ment-subsidized and contraiy to the
?principles of free enterprise."
"Cooperatives" are nothing new to
America. They are imbedded deeply in
our heritage ? the barn-raising, the
iquilting bee;. and much later the co
operative grain elevators put up by
farmers throughout the midwest.
Marquis Childs, in his book. The
Farmer Takes a Hand: Th$ Electric
Power Revolution in America,. explains
that "subsidy," applied to REA, is false.
"The Rural Electrification Administra
tion has LOANED to cooperatives,
made up of farmers, money at two per
cent interest to build their own electric
distribution systems and, in many in
stances where other power sources
were unavailable or too costly, generat
ing and transmission systems. These
loans are not only being repaid , but a
large percentage are being paid in ad
vance."
Mr. Childs points out that REA is in
line with the American tradition of peo
ple working with th? government. He
recAlls that private corporations were
given free land to build railroads
through the West, that the government
dredged and diked the Mississippi and
Ohio Rivers so that the people can use
therm as water highways ? thus indus
tries located along those waterways get
raw materials at a lower rate than if
those materials were hauled by rail.
Today th? airlines receive generous
subsidies, granted by Congress, to keep
in operation an air transportation sys
tem. How then can REA be called so
cialistic?
The private electrical firms in this
country are a powerful bloc. They spent
millions to prevent REA from coming
into being ? millions that could have
been used to run lines to rural America.
It's private capital versus the small fi
nancial resources of the farmer that
can make itself heard loudly against
REA.
Mr. Childs comments further: "Those
who attack the REA co-ops talk a great
deal about free, private enterprise. It
seems to me that they leave out an im
portant word ?competitive." Where
private companies want to serve the
farmer, and many of them are, they
have the right to go after the business.
Where they can't or will not serve the
farmer, farmers have banded together
? as they have since the beginning of
this country ? for their own mutual
benefit. Mr. Childs continues: "That is
private enterprise in the truest sense
of the word. It's relation to Govern
ment is hardly more than that of banker
and borrower."
Fifteen years ago hardly 10 per cent
of the farms in this country had electric
power. Today more than 80 per cent
of all farm homes have electricity and
the labor-saving devices that go with
it.
The power load and profits of the pri
vate utilities have greatly increased
through the transformation electricity
has brought to the American farm. In
1951 the commercial utility companies
sold $43 million worth of power to REA
co-ops. Private enterprise has built the
refrigerators, the dairy equipment, the
hay dryers, the lighting systems, the
food freezers, the toasters and washing
machines that are found on farms
across the land. And this does not in
clude the generators and other facili
ties that had to be manufactured to
produce the increased power for Amer
ica's farm Ttrmlliesl
North Carolina plays a notable role
in the history of REA. Gov. J. C. B.
Ehringhaus made rural electrification
a major issue in his 1932 campaign
after a North Carolina State College
survey showed that only one farm in a
hundred in this state had central sta
tion electricity.
As a result of the strong farm sup
port he received, the state legislature
created a state electrification authority
and later in the same year a bill was
passed permitting formation of non
profit companies to carry out distribu
tion of power to the farms.
North Carolina has since been prom
inent in the REA record. For example,
in 1937 for the first time, a power com
pany bought out a cooperative. In
Johnston County, Carolina Power and
Light paid $11,,000 for a co-op project
that was still on the drawing boards.
And today the power companies have
gradually reduced their efforts to com
pete with REA but they hope to main
tain control over generating and trans
mission facilities which supply the
rapidly developing rural market.
Low cost power has revolutionised
the life of the farmer. It has given him
the advantage over the city dweller in
independence, space and quiet, along
with the comforts and convenience of
town.
And today we congratulate the Car
teret - Craven Electric Membership
Corp. and all those affiliated with it.
They have brought light to farms in
the county where the farmers were
plodding along in 18th century dreari
ness, and in a short 14 years of exist
ence Carteret-'Craven REA laid the
foundation for continued success in the
years to come.
Carteret County New?-Times
WINNER OF NATKUUL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA
PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
A Merger of TU Mi ct Newi (Eat 1111) tad Tbe Twin City Timet (Eat ISM)
I rridayi by tbe Carteret Publlahlns Company. Inc.
I City, N. C.
LOCKWOOD PHILLIPS - PUBLISHER
DEAR PHILLIPS ? ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
RUTH L. PXELINO ? EDITOR
all Rater In Cartaret County and adjoining coaotlea. $8 00 one year, *3.80 aU i
$1.23 one month; olaewhfre >7.08 ooa year, *4 00 ?U montha, *1 JO one BMath.
of Aaaodatad Preaa ? Greater Waekbee ? N. C. Preaa Ajaodatfaa
National Editorial Aaaodntle* ? Audit Bureau of Circulation
The Aaaodatad Preaa ia entitled asdtaivnly to naa lor republication of local nam
I in thia ?e*?paper, aa vail aa all AP newt dia:
IS THIS THE TIME OR PLACE f
iKn> .-i?an^i ? ?
Ruth P? ling
County Will Get More
Than Passing Mention
Dorothy Avery of Beaufort is to
be commended for the splendid
job she has done in compiling in
formation on Carteret County for
inclusion in the book, North Caro
lina, A Guide to the Old North
State. Miss Avery received no pay
for the job. It was done voluntari
ly upon request by compilers. The
book was originally published dur
ing the days of the Works Progress
Administration.
The job required tedious search
ing for facts, interviews and then
the writing of authenticated infor
mation. Miss Avery, a trained li
brarian. was extremely well-quali
fied to do the work and thanks to
her, the county will be included
in the bopk with more than a pass
ing mention.
The magazine. Automobile Facts,
reports that the 100,000-mile tire
has already been built. Just at
present, it's too expensive for gen
eral use, but tire makers say it will
be on the market one of these
days.
When that day comes, you may
want to keep your "old" tires when
you trade cars. You might be buy
ing a new car for your, old tires
instead of new tires for your old
car.
Which reminds me, they gay
(and this was before peaceful ap
plication of atomic power) that the
never-dying automobile battery has
been invented, patents granted on
it ? but the manufacturers of our
present old-fashioned, long-out-of
type automobile batteries, refuse
to put it on the market ...
In Ray Erwin'a Clippings Column
which appears in the magazine, Ed
itor and Publiaher, I came across
a piece written by Ammon McClei
lan, editor of the Okeechobee
News, a Florida weekly. The
Okeechobee News was included in
a study of Florida weeklies which
1 made last year.
Anyhow. Ammon is the fellow
who one day filled the paper with
old cuts (pictures) and announced
he was going fishing.
He. writes now (and was quoted
in Erwin's column) about getting
out a newspaper and his piece ex
presses so well the thoughts of a
publisher and editor, that 1 can't
resist using it here:
"Running a newspaper is a snap,
in case you have never suspected
it. Machinery does all the work.
You sit in an office and write beau
tiful prose, and the machinery
never breaks down or causes any
trouble. Everybody brings in news
and advertising copy on time, and
it is all carefully written and there
are no mistakes in dates.
"With literally thousands of
names and dates and prices and
places and circumstances in a sin
gle issue, nobody in the place ever
gets anything wrong, even when
working under pressure to meet
the week's many deadlines. Noth
ing ever gets left out of the paper
by accident. Proof readers are
mind readers and can always know
what the patron intended whether
he wrote it that way or not. You
can always get paper and other
supplies whenever you need them,
and the firms that sell them never
expect prompt payment, which is
nice, because everybody you sell to
alvays pays promptly.
"You never get a vacation be
cause you nfever need one. You
never get tired. You spend long
evenings at home loafing and you
have time to attend all public gath
erings, board meetings, entertain
ments and social affairs. People
never ask you to keep news out of
the paper or to put tripe into it.
If on very rare occasions a mistake
does get into the paper, people
who call about it always laugh un
derstandably and say 'That's per
fectly all right.'
"Newspapering is a snap any way
you look at it, and it's time editors
tell the public how wonderfully
simple and easy it is.
"And with that we'll take our
tongue out of our cheek, uncross
our fingers, roll up our sleeves and
start to work to get the d-~ paper
out."
In the Good Old Davs
THIRTY-TWO YEARS AGO
The first radio telephone to be
installed in the county wu put in
his home by Dr. C. S. Maxwell.
A library of 120 volume* was
started in Beaufort, located in the
office of Mr. Thomas Martin, over
Martin and King's store on Front
street.
Large crowds were expected
when the Mftinty commencement
exercises would be held in Beau
fort on March 31.
TWENTY-FIVE YEAM AGO
County commissioners refused
the request of Mrs. Ida H. Hall,
county welfare agent, to be re
stored to her position.
U. S. Engineers were to study
the Neuse, Tar and Cape Fear
rivers in reference to power de
velopment. flood control, irrigation
and navigation.
Oliver Spr ingle. Clifton Wade
and Miss Lillian Springle escaped
serious injury in an automobile ac
cident between Haveloek and Nrr
Bern.
TEN YEAM AGO
Ensign Robert H. Hill it. was
awarded the air medal.
Thirty -five whales from t to M
a
feet long were washed aground
three miles west of Atlantic Beach
on Bogue Banks.
Misa Catherine O'Bryan. Beau
fort, and Joseph David Winegar,
USCG, of Whltestone, Va? were
married in St. Paul's Episcopal
Church, Beaufort.
FIVE TEARS AGO
Beaufort and Morehead City
Chambers of Commerce had under
taken a joint project of establish
ing a radio-telephone atation in the
county.
Wiley H. Taylor Jr. of Beaufort
was appointed to fill the unexpired
term of John Ratcliffe, town com
missioner who bad resigned.
Mayor George W Dill of More
head City was elected president of
the Morehead City Rotary Club.
Words to Romombor
Abraham Lincoln, lath President
of the U. 8. ( 1800-49): 1 have
been driven many time* to my
knees, by the overwhelming convic
tion iu?t I had nowhere else to go
. . . My own wiadom. and that of
all a taut me, seemed insufficient
tor that day."
.4 '
Captoin Henry
Sou'easter
He makes noise enough all by
himself but now he's taken up the
saxophone again. George Taylor
certainly has. One of the lads In
the school band had been using the
instrument but returned it the
other day.
Not one to hide his light under
a king crab shell, George has
joined A1 Dewey's orchestra and
will practice with it Saturday
nights at the Blue Ribbon Club.
Mrs. L. W. Moore tangled the
other day with the parking me
ter banditry which to conclusive
ly destroys the old timey hospi
tality of both Beaufort and More
head City.
She promptly took the ticket she
received for overparking to the
police station and handed it in with
a quarter.
TMjf lay you oMd tare befrted
her over with i breath when
she was told that the fine i> a dol
lar.
Now she parks near Ann Street
Methodist Church.
I hope this bit of information
doesn't hatch the idea of placing
meters on Ann street and operating
them on Sundays as well as week
days.
Well, come what may, we certain
ly can see how our parking meter
money is being spent. Yellow paint
is being daubed all over the streets
and 20-minute parking signs are
going up where parking meters
aren't. Beaufort soon will be a
good place Just to go through on
the way to somewhere else.
Author of the Week
Charles Morgan, author of a play,
"The Burning Glau," which haa
just been produced as wall as pub
lished here, enjoys a literary repu
tation that haa apread far beyond
his native England. "The Foun
tain." probably Ma best known nov
el. now two dacades old; "The
Voyage." of 1M0; and "Portrait in
a Mirror," won' him, respectively,
the Hawthornden. Jam*. Tslt Black
Memorial, and Femina-VIe Heur
euse prises, and he is the only au
thor to be recognised by all three.
Except Kipling, be la the only
Engliah novelist to be a French
Academician. His work has been
translated into 17 languages, and
the Theatre Guild baa an option on
a second play of hia, "The River
Line," which haa been enjoying
a successful London run. Born In
ISM, Morgan is married to a nov
elist. Hi Ids Vaughan He served
in the Navy ia both World Wart.
Choice Bits
If we had to walk ? while in the
other fellow's shoo, perhaps we
wouldn't crUiciaa hjs gait
From the Bookshelf
CRESS DELAHANTY, J?um
Wart, IHimart, Brace)
I? Craw interested In boyt?
Father uyi yet Mother uyi
no, it's 'just tot unlikely, alter
all, the child is only 12. She
hunches over her achool hooka, she
does housework; she stays home so
that, while the others go (or a
drive, she can have something
ready to eat when they get back.
Above all, it seems she ran slam
bang into Edwin Kibler and crack
ed a couple of his front teeth.
Doesn't that prove the mother is
right?
But Cress's comment, naive
though it is, corroborates the fath
er's opinion: "You don't knock
people down you are sorry for."
From then on we watch her
grow through those troublesome
sweet years, 12 to 13 and on to
mid-teens and college. She is s
show off, but she recovers: she
must have her first fancy hat, but
she gets over that, as well; she
blushes for her parents, and has
the sense to reslixe they too can
blush for her; she dreams madly
of Calvin Dean and Mr. Cornelius;
she is appalled at the impasssble
deep \ sich suddenly separates her
from Honor Gallagher, a playmate
yesterday and today a bride-to-be;
and finally she learns it is no
deep at all, and in no way impassa
ble
Like any loveable colt, Cress
shies, balks, kicks up her heels,
won't come when you call. It
happens to girls, it seems, just
the way it happens to boys. It's
not really a question of boy or
girl, either, but of irrepressible
youngness in a new, fresh world.
Here are the ache and ecstasy of
the ticklish, fluttery teens. Spirit
ed and nervous, and aware, every
inch of her, of the life around her.
Cress must learn the meaning of it
all, and she does, triumphantly,
now in laughter now in tears.
FABULOUS ANCESTOR, Don
ald Demarest (UppincoU)
Demarest is a wanderer. Taken
by his parents to the Philippines
in World War I, and then to Eng
land, he later took himself to New
York and, most recently, with wife
and daughters, to Mexico.
But he has a base to which he
always returns: New Orleans. This
book tells about the old French
outpost and, in particular, a grand
mother, "great" and "formidable"
and "fabulous." The society of
which she was the leader seems
not to have been wealthy. Further
more, it was broadmided. But it
was dominant and impregnable in
her eyes and in those of Father
Dagobert, Aunt Emmy, Tante Bebe,
Uncles Armand and Bob.
The boy who relates this story is
dropped in his 10th year Into the
midst of these colorful and original
people, and into tkis unique set
ting} In fact he was dropped onto
a stage, as U were, for though it
was as recent as 1930, it was still
New Orleans, a French land, in
a way a non-American land, a
land of manners and even vocabu
Jam Eodt
Washington
Washington ? In this brash and
blustery atomic af r It la comforting
to know there's a loan in thia cap
ital city known aa Brother Hum
ble. Brother Humble, who ia 79,
recently celebrated hia 30th year in
the Order of the Friars Minor at
the Franciacan Monastery her* ?
the firat in the United State* to do
*o.
Born Ffancis Joseph Walter, one
of 11 children in a poor family on
New York'a lower Eaat side, be
joined the order In 1888. one year
before the monaatary was estab
lished here. From 1907 to 1813,
. d again from 1927 to 1038, Broth
er Humbl* served in the Holy
Land, where the Franciscans have
cuatody of the holy places. One of
his most cherished duties is to
guide tourists through the order's
beautiful monastery and grounds
here.
The name Humble was bestowed
on him when he took the vows 80
years ago. Asked If has lived up to
the name he'll tell you: "It take*
a while lifetime to be humbl*."
In Vict Nam,. at the start of the
new lunar calendar year In Feb
ruary, every one gets a new suit
of clothes. Incense, flower* and
food are pliced on altars to one's
ancestors, and visits arc paid to
all realthres within reach.
In Waahington the Viet Nam am
bassador and Mrs. Tran Van Khan
gave a reception to celebrate the
start of what they call the "Year
of the Horse," Inviting many U. 8.
officials. Including Vice President
Nixon, State Depsrtment big-wigs,
diplomats from other countries and
local socialites
At the traditional altar the host
and hostess. In the beautiful, rich
ly-embroidered costume* of their
native land, lit the Incense sticks,
but the food served up waa for the
guests to eat? not for the anceetors
?and (he party preceded much In
the manner of all Waahington so
cial affairs.
Apparently Chief Justice and
Mrs. Carl Warren have decided to
give up their search for a house
here and for the time being at least
will hang on to their furnished
rented apartment in a targe modern
new apartment building out 18th
St.
"I dont know where people think
we CM M the *100,000 to $180.
000 they're asking for hedae* big
enough for our family around
here," Mrs Wamn sty*.
lary <11 iti own ? daube, tiuM,
soursop, gris-gria and (ue-fue.
There ire Christmas, New Year's,
Mardi Gru; cemeteries, reatau
rant*, ben, and a aide trip to M
loxi.
IB the end you realize that,
while the "fabulous anceator" may
be the bedecked old Granny, it
could as well be the intriguing city
itaelf, for Demareat'i story it about
a place and a circle more than
about a single person, and he
writes with touching nostalgia.
The Readers Write
March 13. 1054
To the Editor:
It's all in how you look at it, but
I thought the act of the two ladies
in the car the other day, which
you called rudeness, was courtesy
of the road.
In this day of motorists acting
out "never give a sucker an even
beak," the ladies in question were
helping the four or five car drivers
who were caught at the Machine
and Supply Co.
The drawbridge was up long
enough to hold up a line of cars
that reached almost to the More
head City draw, and the few min
utes we were held up. letting thone
few cars into line, was as nothing
compared to the wait THEY would
have had if they had been forced
to wait till the line of cars had
gone by.
Beaufort Motorist
Stamp News
By SYD KRONISH
AUSTRIAN postage stamps are
helping reconstruct the Lutheran
School in Vienna, set afire by the
Nazis before they fled in April,
1945
A special set of five semi-postals
has been issued with the additional
values on the stamps going to the
reconstruction fund, reports Ed
win Mueller.
The 70 groschen plus 15 g vio
let depicts the "Bummerlhaus" at
Steyr in Upper Austria where the
oldest Protestant school was estab
lished by the Waldenses, a pre
Lutheran sect.
The 1 schilling plus 25 g dark
blue bears a portrait of Johannes
Kepler, famous astronomer who
lectured at Lutheran schools from
tMd to 1828.
f The 50 s plus 40 g red brown
shows a copy of the first edition
of the Lutheran Bible of 1534.
now in the National Library in
Vienna.
The 40 s plus 60 g blue green
portrays Theophil von Hansen,
architect who built the school.
The 3 s plus 75 g dark violet
depicts how the new School on
the Karlsplatz in Vienna will ap
pear after reconstruction.
NEW ZEALAND has Issued
two new stamps in its health series,
reports the New York Stamp Co.
The 1 pence green shows Boy
Scouts ramping in a field. The lWi
pence blue pictures girl scout*
marching in a parade. The leader
carries a girl scout flag.
Three sports stamps have been
issued by Ciechoslovakia. The
30 baleru shows a volleyball game.
The 40 h deptcta a motorcycle
race. The <? b reveals a woman
javelin thrawar in action.
On Nov. 14 Denmark i&sued two
new stamp* ia It* icries honor
ing place* and event*. It ia
called "Kingdom During 1,000
Year*." The IS ore (how* the
viking camp at Trelleborg. The
20 ore illustrates the church o f
Kalundborg.
FROM ICELAND comes word of
fiyejuwadhMives issued to
? honor tha
I famed 1 e e ?
I landic manu
I script*. The 10
? Aurar shows tha
I "R e y k ] a ?
I bok," the manu
| script telling of
the saga Of Burnt NJal. It was
written about 1300 A. D. The 70
aurar show* another view of the
??me manuscript. The 1 krona il
lustrate* the 15th Century tranala
tion of the Holy Bible. The 1.79 k
ha* another view of the *ame. Tha
10k depict* a corner of a page
of a law manuscript written about
1363.
Today's Birthday
ALBERTO GA1NZA PAZ, ban
March It. 1IN In Buenos Aire*, At
gentina. Ex-ed
JHD I tor and publiab
ar of La Pren